Tellico Dam is a dam built by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in Loudon County, Tennessee on the Little Tennessee River just above the main stem of the Tennessee River. It impounds the Tellico Reservoir.

The dam was very controversial and is important because it marks a turning point in American attitudes toward dam construction. Until the 1960s and 1970s few questioned the value of building a dam and in fact dams represented progress and technological prowess. During the twentieth century the United States built thousands of dams. By the 1950s most of the best dams sites in the nation had been dammed and it became harder and harder to justify new dams, yet agencies like the TVA, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Army Corps of Engineers kept the construction pace up as long as they could. By the 1970s, the dam building frenzy came to an end. The Tellico Dam case is illustrative as to the changing times and America's changing attitudes toward dams and the environment.

Closing of the dam was delayed by dam opponents who used the Endangered Species Act of 1973. A small fish called the snail darter was discovered on the Little Tennessee River. Dam opponents succeeded in getting the fish listed as an endangered species and sued to stop the dam. The case made it to the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1978 the Supreme Court voted against the dam and in favor of the snail darter. After a long battle Congress finally exempted the Tellico Dam from the Endangered Species Act. The gates were closed on the dam and Tellico Lake (a reservoir) began to form in 1979.

The dam flooded the locations of the 18th century Overhill Cherokee towns Chota, Tanasi, and Tuskegee. Fort Loudoun was excavated; dirt was deposited to raise the site seventeen feet, and the fort was rebuilt in its original location.

Be sure to see snail darter for more information on the Tellico Dam controversy. Tellico Village built along the shores of Tellico Lake is one of the many legacies of the Tellico Dam controversy.

External links

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Read the 1978 decision related to the ESA and the snail darter (TVA vs. Hill) at http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=437&invol=153

Loudon County, Tennessee | Dams in Tennessee | Tennessee Valley Authority